Chapter 14: Broken Routine

Whitlea felt horrible about leaving Hilbert after Relic Castle, but she did promise her dad that she would be there for when her mother came back from Galar. She didn't even know what Molly had planned for her trip to Galar, other than the fact that she needed to go alone. She hadn't wanted to uproot her and Hilbert's journeys for a spur-of-the-moment idea, after all.

Hilbert said he understood, and encouraged her to keep her promise...but that didn't alleviate Whitlea's guilt. She promised that she would meet him in Opelucid after the fact, but who knows what could happen?

She felt a nudge on her side, and looked over at Solo. Well, she tried to. She still hadn't gotten used to the fact that he was an Emboar now, and that he was much larger than he was when he was a Pignite. Evolution really was something!

"Sorry, Solo," she said. "I was just lost in thought. Thanks, buddy."

That was when they heard the announcement for a flight from Galar coming to land.

"That's gotta be Mum's flight," she declared. "C'mon. She's gonna be ecstatic to see you've evolved."

Sure enough, Molly was happy to see her daughter. She rushed over to give her a hug, and then looked over at Solo with a grin.

"Look at you!" Molly exclaimed with a grin. "Weren't that long ago you were a Tepig! Good t'see that Whitlea's takin' good care of you!"

Molly and Solo fist-bumped, and then the former Champion looked over at Whitlea. "Don't suppose Hilbert's here too?"

"Sorry, Mum," Whitlea responded with a shrug. "He's busy training for Opelucid's Gym."

"Ah." Molly crossed her arms and nodded. "That'd be the Dragon-type gym, aye? Can't blame him for wantin' to train, then."

Whitlea was about to say something, when two Trainers (an Ace Trainer and a Black Belt) came up to them curiously.

"Sorry, we couldn't help overhearing...You said the name Hilbert, right?" the Ace Trainer questioned. "Are you talking about the one with the talking Maractus, by any chance?"

"Uh..." Well, Whitlea did know about Carmen. So she didn't really have much of a choice but to admit, "Yeah, I know him. He's my brother. And...you two are not in Team Plasma, right?"

"No! Absolutely not! Don't lump us with those murderers!" From how offended the Ace Trainer seemed to be at the accusation, Whitlea was pretty sure he was telling the truth. Wait, he said murderers? That wasn't anything Whitlea didn't know, but how did this guy know? "Nothing could be further from the truth! We're-"

"We're counting on him!" The Black Belt exclaimed, almost ready to cry. "Seeing that video, we were so moved! We wanted to come to Opelucid to show our support and hold the fort if we had to, but neither of us have fliers!"

This threw the mother and daughter pair for a loop. "What video?"

"You haven't seen it? Where have you been the last day or so?!" the Ace Trainer questioned. He then dug into his pocket and took out his PokeGear. It didn't take him very long to pull up the video he was talking about; sure enough, there was Carmen. She was talking rather animatedly about Team Plasma, and how they ambushed Hilbert and killed Jude, and how...

"He actually found it?!" Whitlea exclaimed, taking the PokeGear into her hands to get a closer look at what the Hilbert in the video was holding. "It wasn't in Relic Castle, so I just thought it had to be lost! Where was it this entire-?!"

That was when she remembered; her mom was right there. As notorious as Bianca's father was in terms of protectiveness and temper, he had absolutely nothing on Molly Williams. Because unlike Mr. White, Molly had the bite to match her bark.

Whitlea looked over at her mother. Sure enough, there was an almost serene smile on her face. That completely belied the fact that her grip on her own phone was rather tight - it was easy to believe that it could easily snap in her grip. Whitlea noticed how the screen lit up with notifications - she couldn't see what any of them said, but she had a feeling that Molly was going to let her know anyway.

"Seems like I've missed a lot while I was in Galar," Molly said calmly. That was a tone that Whitlea had learned to dread. She didn't have to use it often; usually when an adult was being out of line. She never directed any of her ire at Hilbert or Whitlea in those instances, but they always knew to go into the other room when she adopted that tone. Whitlea knew her well enough what her goal was going to be, but there was no telling what Molly was going to do to accomplish that goal. And Whitlea had a feeling she was going to be pulled along for the ride.

"Tell me everything."

Hilbert couldn't believe what Iris was showing him. A day hadn't even passed since Carmen gave her speech, and it already had close to a million views! He couldn't even begin to scroll through all the comments and hashtags that resulted from that one video.

"I can't believe that video is blowing up like this!" he exclaimed. Was it pride he was feeling, or total glee at the fact that Team Plasma's reputation is totally tanked right now? Or was it just nerves, knowing that so many people had their eyes on him? Maybe it was a mix of all three. "I mean...I guess I can. The fact that Carmen can actually talk always did bring us some attention."

Now that he thought about it...is this why they tried to steal Carmen back in Chargestone Cave? Did they target her specifically?

Iris huffed, hands on her hips. "I say it serves them right! I knew they were off-the-charts strange, but hearing what they did in Dragonspiral Tower takes it to a new low! I'll never forgive them!"

"Now, Iris," Drayden interjected. While he kept up a calm facade, his distain for Team Plasma could be heard in his tone. "It's true that what they did is abhorrent. Not just that, it's foolish to be passionate about a singular viewpoint and reject everything else. The cooperation of people and Pokemon are what created Unova in the first place. It's true that most Pokemon cannot speak, and that some people can hurt them as a result of that...but that does not change the fact that at the end of the day, Pokemon and people believe in each other, need each other, and will continue to live together."

"Right!" Iris agreed. "That's why Team Plasma has to be stopped!"

"Which leads me to why I'm here," Hilbert interjected, taking the Light Stone out of his bag. "Alder said you might know something about the legend behind Reshiram and Zekrom. This is all really new to me, so I'd be lying if I said I knew where to start."

Drayden nodded. "I'll explain, then. Eons ago, there was a great Dragon Pokemon called Kyurem. Nobody knew where it came from - it seemed to appear in the area near Lacunosa Town overnight. It was feared by the people of the town, for it was destructive and known to have eaten many humans and small Pokemon. Many tried to fell the dragon, but all of them failed. That was until two brothers decided to approach Kyurem - not to fight, but to try to understand the dragon's hostility. Kyurem was surprised by the brother's attempts to communicate, so it chose not to kill them. The change didn't happen immediately, but the brothers eventually learned the cause of Kyurem's rage and were able to befriend them. Because the dragon was not just angry; it was lonely."

"Lonely?" Hilbert repeated. Drayden nodded as he continued, "You see, Kyurem's origins are said to not be of this world; they fell to this one by a meteor. After they landed, any attempts Kyurem made to figure out where they landed was met with anger and fear from the residents, which caused the dragon's distrust in humans. Once word of this got out, the two brothers were crowned as kings for their effort in calming Kyurem. Thus, the Unova region was born."

"And Pokemon and humans lived happy lives! Although, after a few years, the brothers - by now they were called the Idealist and the Truth Seeker - started to argue with each other," Iris supplied. "The younger brother was the Idealist - he was a romantic that wanted to rule in a way that allowed the people and Pokemon to live in happiness. The older brother was the Truth Seeker - a philosopher that sought the logical way to rule over Unova. They butted heads constantly, and eventually turned to Kyurem to ask which course was the right one."

"Around this time, Kyurem had grown to love the two young kings, and could not bear to choose between the two of them," Drayden continued. "So they split themself into several dragons so that they would never have to. Zekrom sided with the Idealist to create a new and better world, and Reshiram sided with the Truth Seeker to create a world of good."

"Wait, hold up!" Hilbert interjected. "You're telling me that Reshiram and Zekrom were once part of the same dragon?"

"Uh-huh!" Iris chirped. "And you know what? Kyurem's rumored to still be alive after all that! Nobody knows where it is now, though."

Drayden cleared his throat. "If we may continue...between the brother's conflicting beliefs and the dragon's former state as being one entity, their battle raged on for years. Every time there was conflict, no winner could be declared; they exhausted themselves every time. Eventually the twin heroes realized that no one side was right, and that stopped the conflict."

"But, but!" Iris said. "Then the hero's sons started the conflict again! That caused Reshiram and Zekrom to destroy the region in lightning and fire before they disappeared! "

"Most of Unova was able to recover from the onslaught, for people and Pokemon still cooperated with each other," Drayden said with a nod. "As for the parts that didn't survive...well, you've obviously seen the Desert Resort."

Hilbert was silent. So, the Desert Resort wasn't always a desert?

"But don't worry!" Iris said, placing a hand on Hilbert's back. "If we work with Pokemon in the right way, I'm sure we won't have to worry about the world being destroyed!"

"Gee, no pressure there," Hilbert muttered. Drayden suppressed a chuckle and continued, "That brings our story to you. Hilbert, what you're holding in your hands right now is the Light Stone - Reshiram's dormant form. Zekrom must have awoken from a similar form, known as the Dark Stone. As for how to awaken Reshiram...I'm sorry. I don't know."

Hilbert visibly deflated. As fascinating as the story was, he was hoping there would be some kind of clue that he could gain from it. There wasn't anything he could pick up on. He really hoped that he didn't have to become a fancy philosopher like that Truth Seeker was.

"Now, I did make a promise to Alder," Drayden concluded. "Which means that you must win the Legend Badge from Opelucid Gym. I'll be waiting for your challenge!"

With that, Drayden marched out of the house. Already Hilbert found himself to be pretty nervous. Dragon-type Pokemon were ridiculously strong, and Drayden had to be one of the more intimidating out of the Gym Leaders he had met! How was he supposed to do this?!

Iris must have detected Hilbert's worry and chirped, "Don't worry, Hilbert! You got your Pokemon with you! You obviously get along with them well, so believe in them like they believe in you!"

He had to admit, Iris' words were pretty reassuring.

Opelucid Gym had a unique approach to how challenges went; because the layout of the Gym made it impossible to simply go back after a certain point, challenging the Gym is a two-part process. The first part is battling the Gym Trainers, where the second part consisted of battling whichever Gym Leader awaits the challenger.

Not only that, but given the Gym's type specialty, Opelucid was a well-known cause of casualties within the Unova Gym circuit It had this in common the Gyms in Johto's Blackthorn and Galar's Hammerlocke; there was a reason all three of them were considered the very last Gyms in their respective circuits. Dragon-types are not easy opponents unless a Trainer had a Fairy-type or Ice-type in their party.

Hilbert didn't have any Fairy-types, but he was able to catch two Ice-types. One of which was in his current party.

Even with Captain's help in the Gym, Hilbert's first challenge of Opelucid Gym couldn't have gone worse.

It was going swimmingly at first; Captain took the lead and and plowed through the first half of the Gym Trainers. Icicle Crash took their Pokemon out with one hit.

There was one Druddigon that wasn't taken down as quickly. As if that wasn't enough, that Druddigon then used Revenge. The way Captain just fell from the impact, Hilbert immediately knew the worst had happened. And it was his fault! He had a Druddigon of his own, he should have known that Revenge was part of its movepool!

That Druddigon was defeated by Merlot, but at what cost?

The worst part of Captain's death was that he was already at the point of no return at that point; he had to keep going until he reached Drayden. Thankfully he had one more Trainer to go, and all he had was a Fraxure. Once that battle was done, he could go back to the Pokemon Center to recup and plan a new strategy before challenging Drayden. Hilbert started by sending Matt out to paralyze before using Volt Switch to put Roger in.

Matt was able to paralyze Fraxure, but that didn't stop the Dragon-type from landing a Dragon Claw. The Zebstrika collapsed, and Hilbert barely caught the sight of blood before rushing over. No, no, NO!

He barely noticed Michelle bursting out of her PokeBall to fight the Fraxure. He didn't even pay attention when she eventually won her fight and Fraxure went down. All Hilbert focused on was how he tried - and failed - to heal Matt. Fuck, he couldn't even see, how was he supposed to heal Matt when he was already crying-

Hilbert knew in the back of his mind that there was no saving Matt - it was a critical hit that dug a little too deep. Anyone could see that, but he didn't want to face it.

How can I call myself a Hero if I can't keep my friends from dying?!

"I'm sorry," he choked. Shit, he didn't want to cry in the middle of the Gym, but the tears were already coming out. "Matt, I'm so sorry."

All he could bring himself to do was thread his fingers through Matt's mane, like he used to do when he was a Blitzle. He could only hope it offered some level of comfort as Matt breathed his last.

Hilbert couldn't bring himself to look at anything else - he ran out of the Gym without saying another word. He beat the last Gym Trainer, but he wasn't nearly ready to face Drayden just yet.

As Merlot watched over his trainer - curled into himself as he cried his eyes out - he remembered his mother's words back in the Dreamyard. She did warn him that he and everyone around him would experience sorrow. He didn't doubt his mother's prediction, but knowing that he would experience sorrow and actually feeling sorrow are two completely different things.

It only made sense that the Musharna would take the mantle of 'team leader'; someone had to level out Michelle's temper and Roger's carefree attitude. And as the team leader, Merlot had an obligation to look out for everyone as best as he could. He did take great pride in being able to do so - it was only due to his quick thinking in Dragonspiral Tower that Hilbert and the others were here in the first place, after all.

Even with his best efforts, though...things like this still happened. Knowing what the future might hold didn't always mean that he could always be prepared for it. He just had to prepare as best as he could - that was why he asked everyone in the party to make sure Hilbert was safe if anything happened. Because, he'd only be lying to himself if he completely dismissed the possibility of his own death.

But if any more members of the party had to die, why did it have to be Matt?

Jude's death was devastating, but it was easier to prepare for with his recklessness. Merlot wouldn't admit it to the rest of the team (because he knew it would upset them more than they already were), but he would have been pleasantly surprised if he had survived to the very end.

But Matt? He was a sweetheart, and always tried lifting the team's spirits if he could. Merlot remembered that first conversation he had with him - when he was still a newly-caught Blitzle. It was odd how remembering those happy times where Matt's mischief would lighten the mood only hurt, now that he was gone.

Not even all his plans could have saved Matt, with how suddenly he went.

Hilbert was still crying, so he probably missed the startled squeak. Merlot didn't; this was a rather secluded area of Route 9, but they would have to be really lucky to avoid encountering a wild Pokemon in this moment. He glanced over and was only mildly surprised to find that an Audino was watching them. Now that he thought about it, they didn't meet any wild Pokemon here before, have they...?

Audino obviously knew that Merlot knew she was here, so she stepped forward.

(Um...hi?) the Normal type greeted with a small wave of the hand. (I don't mean to intrude, but I heard a strange noise and thought I should check it out. This...is your trainer, right? Is he okay?)

(Hello,) Merlot responded. (I'm afraid not. We're going through a lot right now. We just lost a few friends.)

(Oh...)

A moment of silence passed, and Merlot honestly wasn't certain what to do. Normally they would be battling right now, but Hilbert's heart obviously wouldn't be in it...if he was even aware of the Audino's appearance, anyway. But at the same time, he needed some room to grieve...he barely got any after losing Jude. Merlot didn't think that it was just Captain and Matt he was grieving right now.

But at the same time, Merlot doubted that Hilbert would want to miss out on meeting a new friend (as hesitant as he may be about it right now). While he may get violent about it sometimes, Hilbert really was a kind and friendly human. He did his best not to let his pain get in the way of befriending new people or Pokemon. What to do...

(Do you mind if I stayed with you for a while?) Audino suddenly asked. (I can keep some of the other wild Pokemon away from you guys. You know, to give you some space?)

That honestly surprised Merlot. He had heard about Audino being kind Pokemon, but he didn't think that could extend to trainers and their Pokemon too. (That would be appreciated. Thank you.)

(No problem!) Audino chirped, clearly happy to help. (So, did your trainer give you a name? Or should I just call you Musharna?)

(That's not necessary. He did give me a name, it's Merlot.)

(Mer-lot...that's a nice name! Some of the other wild Audino call me Alto, you can call me that if you want!)

The next few hours went rather uneventfully; Alto was able to keep the other wild Pokemon away from Hilbert while he grieved. Once Hilbert finally stopped crying, he noticed the Audino. At first he was a little hesitant to accept her into the roster, but Alto was stubborn.

It was a good thing that Drayden agreed to give Hilbert a little time to prepare before fighting him. Due to the need to stop N, though...he could only offer an extra day. That didn't give many options as far as who to use for that fight, between the types of Pokemon he had and how much training they would need.

Michelle, Roger and Merlot were obvious. Hilbert knew Drayden's Haxorus had Rivalry and not Mold Breaker, so Michelle could be a useful defense there. Hilbert made sure that Roger learned Ice Fang specifically for this Gym, and while Merlot didn't have Fairy-type moves on him, he knew that the Haxorus line didn't have stellar Special Defense.

After a lot of consideration, Hilbert decided to add Napoleon to the party. At least for now; the Lucky Egg that Professor Juniper had given him might just help Napoleon be on-level with the rest of the party by the time he challenged Drayden. Even if he would be just a little under-leveled, Hilbert had a Never Melt Ice too.

There was Dodger, too...She wouldn't need nearly as much training as Napoleon would. In fact, she was only a level or two lower than the rest of the party. But the thought of having another Electric-type after losing Matt so suddenly hurt, so he held off on that for now. Instead, he decided to bring Carmen along with him. She was probably safer with him for the time being, anyway.

It was a good thing, too; because Carmen had a bit of gossip for him.

"A Simisage that one lady brought over told me about Mistralton Cave," she had said. "You know, as a thank you? He said that you can find evolution stones in Mistralton Cave. Doesn't Belle need something like that to become a Chancellor? Chandelure?"

Mistralton Cave...Hilbert knew where that was, and he really needed to backtrack. In fact, he'd need Turtle's help to get there from Opelucid. But it was the only lead he had as far as helping his team get stronger.

Now that he thought about it...he hadn't caught anything there, had he?

After checking his notebook to find that he hadn't caught anything there, he swapped Merlot out of the party for Turtle. He had flown to Driftveil City and got himself to Mistralton Cave within a few hours.

He took a deep breath, stepped into the cave...and immediately stepped on something violent. With a shout, Hilbert fell over and was bewildered to find a Drilbur poking his head out of the dirt where his foot had been moments before. The Drilbur glared at the Trainer before launching himself at him. Hilbert yelped and summoned Roger from his PokeBall, and it was a short struggle before Hilbert managed to catch the Ground-type.

Holy shit, that Drilbur was a violent one! It took a long time to figure out a nickname for the little guy, and eventually he settled on the name Garfield.

Unfortunately...as amazing as it was to find a Drilbur here, it wasn't anything that could help Belle evolve.

He had to go further into the cave to find that, didn't he? He could only hope that he would find the item he needed quickly as he ventured deeper into the cave.

New Additions

Alto / Audino / Female / Brave / Somewhat stubborn / Regenerator / Met in Route 9

Garfield / Drilbur / Male / Hardy / Quick-tempered / Sand Force / Met in Mistralton Cave.

R.I.P

Captain the Beartic
(lvl 28 - lvl 38)

Matt the Zebstrika
(lvl 11 - lvl 38)

Author's Note: Captain's death was a dumb mistake on my part, but Matt's was a critical hit OHKO. Hurts to this day. :')